Of all dog behavior problems, food aggression is one of the most serious.  It often escalates into something more serious and can become violent.  Unfortunately, many people ignore food aggression in their dogs because they don’t understand the behavior.  They simply choose to avoid dealing with it.

You may think that it doesn’t make any sense for your dog to become possessive of his food, bare his teeth and growl at you, especially when you’re the one who feeds him in the first place.  You may ask yourself how that kind of behavior makes any sense.

However, this kind of thinking can lead straight to chaos in your home.  With food aggression what’s actually happening is your dog is asserting ownership of his/her food as well as the home you share.  This happens because you’re not asserting your own alpha position as the leader in the home, so your dog will do so.

If you have a small dog it may seem cute when your dog is possessive about his food.  You may laugh and joke about your dog’s behavior.  But that’s the last think you should do.  You may not fear for your own safety, but you should consider what could happen if your dog displays this kind of possessive behavior toward a friend or a child.

Dealing With Food Aggression

Your dog could begin to show aggressive tendencies, including food aggression, for lots of different reasons.  What’s important is that you work on stopping the aggression.  Here are some suggestions to help you stop the aggression.

*Backing Down:  When your dog shows aggression you have to know when to react to it and when to step away.  If you give in to your dog when he shows aggression and don’t handle it properly, then you’re telling your dog that it’s all right to show aggression.

*Dog-Dog Aggression:  If your dog is directing aggression toward another dog at meal time there is a simple answer.  Separate the two dogs.  Feed the dogs in different rooms or in crates.

*Get Your Family Involved:  You must get all of your family members involved so they know what’s going on.  Everyone in the family needs to take the same actions toward your dog to correct him when he shows aggression.  Otherwise your dog will get mixed signals and continue to be aggressive.  You can’t do it alone.

*Control the Feeding:  You need to be the alpha and control the feed bowl.  This means that you need to be in charge when you feed your dog.  Be a little more forceful and in control.  Teach your dog to sit and stay before you give them their food.  Doing this teaches the dog that they have to earn the food and that you are in charge.

Your dog should also pay attention to you when you are feeding them and not just focus on the feed bowl.  Your dog must understand that the food comes from you.  You control the food, not the dog.

*Feeding Time:  Feed your dog after you eat.  This shows your dog that you eat first and you have the position of alpha leader.

*No Rewards:  You should never give your dog a reward for growling.  This means don’t give your dog his food if he growls.  However, this doesn’t mean you should punish your dog or yell at him.  Just withhold the reward of the food.  If you show aggression, such as yelling or punishing, in response to your dog’s aggression, the situation can escalate and become dangerous.

*Attention and Hand Feeding:  You can stop your dog’s aggressive behavior by hand feeding him and by showing your dog special attention while you are feeding. This is particularly effective when you’re trying to calm a dog during meal times.

Hand feeding your dog and showing him special attention while you’re feeding him will also get him used to you being near him while he’s eating. This is even easier to do if you have a puppy.  You should practice this from the first time you feed a puppy.

Your dog’s meals are a very important part of the day, especially for your dog.  You should show your dog that you are the alpha leader and that you “own” the food bowl.  You should also make sure that you provide your dog with reassuring attention while he eats. This will help reduce all forms of aggression.

If your dog shows aggression toward family members, your neighbors, or toward other people when he’s near the food bowl, or toward your friends, children, or toward other dogs, then we strongly suggest that you find the best trainer possible to help you deal with this problem.

Until next time…..

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of Canine Behavior Specialists in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com

Now that the weather is getting warmer it always seems that our dogs find more reasons to need a bath.

People often want to know how often their dog should get a bath.  That doesn’t always mean that they want to give their dog a bath, however! It’s not always fun to give your dog a bath, especially if he’s the kind of dog who hates getting in the tub.  In that case, giving your dog a bath can be a terrible experience, for you and for your dog.

But giving your dog a bath can be a good thing.  Dogs don’t really like to be dirty and smelly.  Dogs can’t clean themselves the way cats can.  When a dog gets dirty and nasty, they simply stay that way until they shed, or rub it off on your furniture.  And when they shed things are bad, too, because the hair goes all over your house.

So, what do you do with a dirty, smelly, shedding dog who doesn’t want a bath?  How do you make your dog look and smell nice again?  Actually, there are a few things to consider if you’re thinking about bathing your dog.  For instance:

*Grooming:  Grooming is not the same as bathing.  You should comb or brush your dog’s coat at least once a week. This will help remove mats and it will help cut down on shedding.  You should also brush your dog’s coat before a bath, especially if he has long hair.

*Coat:  You should consider your dog’s coat when deciding how often to bathe your dog.  Bathing your dog too often will remove important natural oils form their coat and make their skin dry and itchy.

Most dogs with double coats or soft undercoats, such as Cocker Spaniels or the Pekingese, should have a bath roughly every four to eight weeks.  Dogs with a silky coat, such as the Yorkshire Terrier or the Lhasa Apso, should have a bath every three to six weeks.

Breeds of dog with a curly coat that doesn’t shed such as the Poodle or the Portuguese Water Dog should have a bath about every six to eight weeks.  Smooth-coated dogs such as the Chihuahua and the Boston Terrier will do well with a bath about every eight weeks or if they are dirty.  Dogs such as these need natural skin oils to protect their skin and they shouldn’t be bathed too often.

Dogs with coarse, wiry coats such as the Schnauzers and the Terrier breeds need baths about every four to six weeks. For dogs that have dandruff, this schedule can be moved up to about every three weeks.

*A Dog’s Personal Habits:  There are always exceptions to these recommendations.  For dogs that like to roll in the mud or play in puddles, the time table between baths may be much shorter. If your dog is removing the natural oils in his skin and coat with mud and dirty water, there is no reason to postpone a bath.

If, on the other hand, your dog is only slightly dirty, you can probably brush the dirt out of his coat every couple of days with a comb or brush.  Dry shampoos may or may not help much and they can still dry your dog’s coat out, which is not good for your dog’s skin.

*Swimming:  If your dog likes to go swimming whenever possible, especially in a chlorinated pool, you should bathe him afterwards with a mild shampoo.  This is also true if he swims in salt water.  Both chlorine and salt water can harm your dog’s coat and your dog may try to lick their coat after swimming which won’t be good for him.

*Allergies:  If you or another family member has allergies, you will probably need to bathe your dog more frequently.  This will help you keep the house free of dog dander and make life easier for the allergy sufferer.

In this case you should use a very mild shampoo for a weekly bath.  This will be less likely to harm your dog’s skin and coat, yet it will still remove dander.

Dogs can collect an amazing amount of dirt on their skin and coat in just one week.  However, dogs really don’t need baths as often as humans do.  Too many baths are not good for them.  It’s best to have your dog on a grooming schedule to keep mats at a minimum and keep nails trimmed, but don’t dry out their skin and coat with too many baths.

If you create a good grooming schedule your dog should stay happy and healthy for years, and you shouldn’t have to deal with too much doggy smell over the course of your lives together.

Until next time…..

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of Canine Behavior Specialists in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com

People today really love their dogs.  They have close relationships with their dogs.  Their dogs are smart and they know what’s going on around them.  There’s a close bond between people and their dogs.  Sometimes it almost seems like people think their dogs are a little person in a dog suit.  But that’s not the case.

The truth is that dogs are dogs, no matter how close people and dogs are.  It doesn’t matter how happy or cute our dog is, he’s still a dog.  When you forget that your dog is a dog, it can lead to problems.  Your dog has natural instincts and he thinks and reacts like a dog.  Instead of expecting him to act like a person, we need to understand the dog and make changes for him.

How Does Your Dog Think?

Dogs rely on their instincts.  That means they look for the basic things in life.  They need food, they need a place to sleep, and they need a good pack they can rely on to help keep them safe.  That means they also need a strong pack leader.  A good pack leader is someone who acts as a guide and offers protections.

As a dog owner it’s your job to take on the role of the alpha pack leader.  This is what your dog needs you to be.  You have to make sure that your dog isn’t left alone to care for himself.

You also need to understand how a dog thinks.  They don’t picture things in words as we do. Your dog may learn to answer to a word or command but that doesn’t mean they know what the word means.  Dogs don’t understand words the way that humans do.  It’s more likely that dogs will associate an action with an action.  Dogs understand body language.  As far as words go, it seems likely that dogs will be able to understand commands that are made with single words.  If you speak a sentence to your dog, your dog probably understands a single word and follows it.

If you say something to your dog such as, “Do you want to go outside?” your dog probably understands “outside” and you could shorten the phrase to just that word, spoken in a friendly tone.  You would get the same result from your dog.

Thinking Like Your Dog

So, what does all of this mean?  What it means is that you need to learn how your dog thinks and what he needs.  Your dog doesn’t use words. Your dog is more likely to think in terms of actions and what he wants. Your dog understands body language.  Your dog pays attention to the tone of your voice and how you are acting.  That means more to your dog than the words you use.

If you understand that your dog thinks in images and actions it will help you influence how your dog behaves.  For example, if you give your dog a friendly greeting every day when you return from work, your dog is going to start expecting it.

If you give the friendly greeting every day, your dog will get excited and start getting happy before you get home.  But, if you don’t come home when he’s expecting you to, your dog will start to get upset.

So, you can tell that your dog’s actions are based on what he’s been expecting and what’s happened in the past.  What you do will teach the dog to expect something.  If you don’t do what the dog expects then it can make the dog very anxious.

This is why some people tell you that you shouldn’t greet your dog as soon as you get home.  If you greet your dog as soon as you get home it will encourage your dog to get too excited and connect the positive feelings with your return.

You can help your dog avoid a lot of frustration and anxiety if you manage their expectations in that way.  Learn to control their perceptions so they don’t get too over-excited about receiving food, or going for a walk, or getting attention.

It also helps if you can change your own expectations.  Stop expecting your dog to act like a human and remember that your dog is a dog.

Your dog is a loving, funny, terrific dog, but he’s still a dog.  And that should be plenty.

Until next time…..

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of Canine Behavior Specialists in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com .

Your dog is excited. He likes people.  He’s happy when new people visit.  And he loves to jump!  Dogs are built to jump and it’s something they love to do.  It may seem almost impossible to get your dog to stop trying to jump up in the faces of your family and friends at times.

Fortunately, when it comes to bad behaviors, jumping up on people is one of the easier problems to stop.  Here are some tips to help you make the jumping stop.

Why Your Dog Is Jumping

There are reasons why your dog is jumping.  It’s not just because your dog wants to get in your face.  Your dog wants to be dominant over any new people who enter the house.  Your dog thinks he’s the alpha dog in the home, the leader of the pack, and he thinks he can do what he wants to do.

Naturally, this doesn’t apply to every dog who jumps.  In some cases a dog jumps because they want to be closer to people so they can greet them.  Dogs will sniff and smell other dogs’ faces as a greeting.  It’s not surprising they want to smell our faces.

Dogs will also jump because they’ve been rewarded for jumping in the past.  If you pet your dog for jumping you’re giving your dog the message that you approve of the behavior.  This is not a good way to get the jumping to stop.

Stopping The Jumping

So, how can you make the jumping stop?  First, you need to stop making a fuss about returning home.  If your dog gets excited and overly happy when people come in the house, your dog will show this same kind of behavior when strangers come in the home.  That includes the elderly and children, and these are people who could be hurt by an overly excited dog.

Start waiting 10 to 15 minutes after you arrive home before you greet your dog.  This will remove the excitement from your greeting and allow your dog to calm down.  You should also put yourself down on your dog’s level to give the greeting.

If your dog is jumping in order to get to your face, when you get down to your dog’s level, it stops the jumping. Your dog can smell your face and there is no jumping.  You can teach your dog that he only gets to greet you when you are on his level.

You can also teach your dog to respond to certain commands.  Teach your do to sit and stay before greeting them. Teach your dog the “Off” command so they get off you right away.

Teaching Your Dog The “Off” Command

You can teach your dog the “Off” command if you will say, “OFF” when your dog jumps on you.  Your dog may not understand what you’re saying at first.  This may be frustrating for you.
You will need to be consistent with the command.  Tell everyone in your home that your dog has to follow the new command.  Allowing your dog to disobey the command is unacceptable.  If everyone follows the same command with your dog, your dog will learn much more quickly the meaning of “OFF.”

No one wants their dog to jump on people and possibly hurt someone when they visit.  This is a special worry with children and the elderly who can easily be hurt if they fall.  You can avoid this kind of accident by teaching your dog from an early age that jumping is unacceptable.

Your dog will learn to stop jumping even faster than you expect.

Do you have any tricks that have worked to keep your dog from jumping?  Please tell us about them in the comment section below.

Until next time………

Sometimes you may hear someone talking about “dog language.” What exactly do they mean by this term? Are dogs actually communicating with each other in some secret, unknown language that humans can’t understand? Or, is there something much more complicated going on?

Actually, dogs don’t imagine the world in ways that we would consider as using “language.” Language and the way we see the world are things created by humans. However, all animals have communication, and that includes dogs.

Dogs use a sequence of body language cues and dog sounds to tell each other what they are feeling and what they want. This method is very effective.

As people who live with dogs, it’s very helpful to know what our dogs are trying to communicate to us when they use body language. Knowing what our dogs are “saying” to us can also minimize any potential aggression or possible violence when our dogs are outside the home. It helps us recognize when a dog is upset or angry.

Recognizing the Different Kinds of Dog Language

Due to the fact that dogs have no syntax and there are no certain rules for dogs and the way they “talk” to us, here are some of the most vital physical cues your dog will give you:

Stillness: If a dog no longer moves and stands very still, it may mean the dog wants to be left alone. The dog may be afraid of losing something. Try offering your dog a bone and see if your dog does this. It may be dangerous to interact with a dog in this state unless you are the obvious leader of the pack.

Growling and Showing Teeth: There are different stages when a dog shows a threatening posture. The dog will begin with baring his teeth. Some people tell their dogs to stop showing their teeth but it’s usually best to allow your dog to exhibit this behavior.

Even though teeth baring is frightening, it is a clear warning sign to people and to other animals that the dog is threatening and should be left alone. After baring teeth, the dog will growl. Next the dog will attack. If you train your dog not to bare his teeth, or not to growl, the dog may go straight into an attack and there would be no warning. People and other animals need to be aware of the warning signs before an attack.

Arched Backs: If a dog arches his back it means that the dog is attempting to make himself look bigger. He does this to try to frighten off something that he considers a threat. This usually means that he is afraid. Dogs that are afraid are dangerous. If you see another dog that is arching his back, you should leave the dog alone.

Tail between their legs: When a dog has his tail between his legs it means that he’s afraid or nervous. There can be many reasons why a dog is afraid. It could even be cause the dog’s owner has left the home.

Lowered Head: If a dog has his head lowered it means the dog is inviting you or another dog to play. This is a primal action that means, “I’m happy!”

Raised Paw: When a dog raises a paw it means that he wants to be friends. That’s why it’s usually so easy to teach a dog to raise his paw.

Tail Wagging: The tail is one of the dog’s most powerful means of communication. It’s a communication tool and your dog can use it to rapidly provide communication clues they want to give you. When the dog has a loose, wagging tail it means he’s happy. Other ways of wagging the tail are not as positive.

If the dog is flicking the tail and holding it mostly still, this is meant to tell people to keep away and don’t bother him. A barely wagging tail may mean the dog is insecure or anxious. When the dog has his tail between his legs he is very scared.

Dogs are very good at expressing their feelings. In many cases one of the biggest training problems lies in the fact that people don’t pay nearly enough attention to what their dog is telling them with their body language. And yet, dogs can read every gesture that humans make. It doesn’t matter whether you try to hide it or not, your dog will always know if you’re upset, happy, or angry just by reading your body language.

Your dog will usually be able to connect your actions to the sounds and the syllables of the words you say. However, ultimately it’s the body language and the gestures you make that decide how you and your dog understand each other.

Until next time…..

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of Canine Behavior Specialists in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com